'Pogacar could win ten stages if he wants to' - Former yellow jersey holder considered skipping the 2026 Tour

The Dutchman is expected to start in Barcelona as part of XDS Astana Team’s sprint group, with much of his Tour likely to revolve around guiding Max Kanter through the hectic closing kilometres. Yet Teunissen has admitted that he entered the season with serious doubts about whether the race still suited riders of his profile.

“I told XDS Astana that I didn’t necessarily want to do it this year, but they keep coming back to me,” Teunissen said in a recent interview with Wielerrevue. “And in the end, you don’t say no to the Tour de France. It remains the biggest race of the year.”

His reluctance has less to do with the pressure of the Tour than with the direction its routes have taken. According to Teunissen, the number of stages that offer genuine opportunities to sprinters, classics specialists and heavier all rounders has continued to shrink.

“What I find disappointing is that it has become so difficult,” he said. “Pogacar could win ten stages this year if he wants to. There is very little left for the sprinters, but even less for the classics riders.”

Teunissen believes that even stages presented as opportunities for powerful attackers are increasingly decided on steep climbs. The combination of relentless terrain and the exceptional level of the modern peloton means that many riders arrive at the Tour with few realistic chances of competing for a personal result.

“The stages that are supposedly designed for that type of rider are won by someone like Ben Healy,” he explained. “Then there is still a steep climb where a rider like Healy attacks at seven watts per kilogram. There is simply nothing I can do in that situation.”

Teunissen sees that as part of a wider change in professional cycling. Experience and attention to detail once allowed riders to compensate for differences in physical ability, but those advantages have largely disappeared now that almost every team works to the same standards.

“In the past, you could still gain an advantage through things like nutrition or course knowledge, but that hardly works anymore,” he said. “I’m getting better myself, but everyone else is improving too.”

That reality can make for long and frustrating days, particularly when the decisive point of a stage is effectively a test of climbing ability.

“That’s why I told the team how I felt, because I often spend the day waiting for the moment when I get dropped.”

Teunissen is no stranger to success at the Tour. In 2019, he produced one of the biggest surprises of the opening weekend when he won the first stage in Brussels. That victory also put him into the yellow jersey, giving the Dutchman a permanent place in the history of the race.

Seven years later, Teunissen returns in a very different role, having enjoyed a strong spring that included 14th place at Milan-Sanremo and 10th at Paris-Roubaix.

“My main role in the Tour de France will be as Max Kanter’s leadout rider,” Teunissen said.

Although Kanter is unlikely to be listed among the leading favourites at the start of the race, Teunissen believes his teammate is capable of taking advantage when an opportunity presents itself.

“What can he do? Well, he won a stage at Paris Nice earlier this year. I wouldn’t say it’s impossible for him to win a stage at the Tour de France. To be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Teunissen knows better than most that the Tour can produce unexpected winners. He even believes a Kanter victory would be easier to predict than his own success in Brussels.

“It would certainly be less of a surprise than when I managed to win in Brussels,” he concluded.